One of 12 posts about my 2018 UK Trip (Glasgow + West Highland Way + Oxford)
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It was a bit of a wet and boggy day; my shoes got soaked through multiple times in the mud right from the get-go. This even when I tried ascending a hill to go around the deep mire of the path. (Turns out the entire hill was a bog too.)
Throughout the day, there were long treacherous pools of water or mud with small stones thrown in at hazard to tempt the walker to make her way across. Sometimes it worked, if you trusted the stones. But I couldn't help thinking that the stones must have been placed when the water was much shallower.
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| cloud shadows on the hills |
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| baa! |
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| picture-perfect |
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| cows in the copse |
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| a magical little wood |
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| stone wall, perhaps sunk with time |
I decided to forego the half-hour detour downhill to Crianlarich, figuring I had adequate water and snacks and would probably find somewhere suitably private to take care of nature's call.
As indeed I did - and in fact, there was a break in the weather just as I reached a picnic table on the slope above the turn-off to the town. It had not been visible from the cross-roads, and it felt like a sign that I'd made the right choice.
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| the weather cleared up as I reached a beautiful picnic spot |
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| a glimpse of Hobbiton? |
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| clover |
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| graveyard at Kirkton Farm |
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| Ruins of St Fillan's Priory |
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| a grimmer view of the graveyard |
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| loch of the lost sword |
A helpful sign by the Loch/Lochan offers the following account:
The Legend: After he was beaten at Dalrigh, Robert the Bruce and his army threw their weapons into this small lochan. This included Robert Bruce's long-sword (Claymore), and local legend suggests it lies here to this day!
Then it immediately throws cold loch-water on the concept:
The Reality?: As you might notice [...], a Lochan nan Arm is located to the south of where you stand. It is thought this might be the real location of the weapons dump. Why the legend was moved no one really knows. In July 2015 a team from MacDonald Armouries [...] came to metal detect the site and local lochans. Unfortunately they did not find any real evdience for the battle, or dumped weapons [...].
I made really good time today - perhaps even too good, as the B&B host didn't have her home-baked goods ready to welcome me.
This was the last day my Australian fellow-traveler and I had the same accommodations; she was doing the walk in 8 days, and I was doing it in 7.
We honored one of Tyndrum's better-rated local establishments with our patronage for a mediocre last meal together.
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| HEAVY PLANT CROSSING - make way for Ents! |
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